Census army takes to the streets to find those who have not responded

AP PhotoThose who haven’t filled out their Census forms and mailed them back should expect a knock on the door soon.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — If you haven’t sent back your Census form, or haven’t gotten one in the first place, expect a knock on your door.

Or two. Or six.

A small army of Census takers will invade Staten Island, beginning today, to try to make up for the borough’s sub-par response to the mail campaign. And they won’t leave until they’ve counted as many apathetic, procrastinating, reluctant, disillusioned or simply forgotten residents as they can.

The U.S. Census has employed 1,200 people to go door-to-door across the borough through mid-July, according to Marianne Maloney, Staten Island’s Census 2010 partnership specialist. The census takers will target low-response communities — such as Port Richmond and Stapleton — and attempt to contact the residents up to six times at each home. If that doesn’t work, they will ask neighbors.

“They are not going to stop until they get to an adequate number. Their intention is to get everybody who has not responded,” Ms. Maloney said.

“They are going to be relentless,” she added.

New York City, and the state as a whole, has lagged in Census participation, according to its data. Only 60 percent of city recipients — and a slightly higher 64 percent on the Island — have mailed back 10-question Census forms as yesterday’s deadline approached. The national response rate is 72 percent. That lackluster showing could result in the state losing up to two of its congressional seats — rather than gaining one or two, as many population experts had believed possible.

That irony was not lost on Island Republican congressional candidate Michael Grimm. During his own door-to-door campaign, several residents told Grimm they never received a form.

“I don’t think it’s a major concern for most residents. They have a lot more on their minds, like health care, Wall Street ... but it’s actually very important because we need the funding and the representation,” Grimm said.

There have been a few reports of borough residents not receiving questionnaires in the mail, but nothing widespread, Ms. Maloney said. The Island’s three Council members said they did not receive any significant complaints from residents about the issue.

But some said they did speak with residents who flat-out refuse to fill out the questionnaire.

“We had some people say, they are not going to turn it in, it’s just a waste of time, it’s not going to make a difference,” said Councilwoman Debi Rose (D-North Shore), whose district has communities with some of the lowest response rates in the city.

To encourage more Census participation, Ms. Rose participated in a “March to the Mailbox” campaign this month, and put a virtual thermometer outside her St. George office to track its progress. As of yesterday, it was still in the chilly 50s.

“A lot of people think government just wants to interfere rather than help,” Ms. Rose added.

Census takers will face that attitude and many other challenges as they hit the streets over the next two months. They will have to account for immigrants in communities like Port Richmond, Clifton and Stapleton, who fear their immigration status will be reported to the federal government (citizenship is irrelevant).

They will encounter others who are illegally occupying apartments, and fear they will be reported to city agencies (they won’t). They will deal will language and cultural barriers and multiple families with multiple last names.

“It’s not really such a pleasant, easy task. They have their work ahead of them,” Ms. Maloney said.

The work will be costly as well. The government has to spend $85 million to physically count just 1 percent of the people who did not respond to the mail forms. Thus, to drive national participation rates close to 100 percent would cost more than $3.2 billion.

In all, more than 600,000 workers will fan out through neighborhoods across the country, asking questions about race, gender and family relationships. They will be trained to persuade people about the critical role the census plays in political representation and in dividing $400 billion in federal funds. They will also tell residents it’s their “civic obligation” to comply.

“It has to work. We need the numbers. We need the funding here on Staten Island,” Ms. Maloney said.